A Crown Point man has been charged with two counts of animal cruelty after hitting and dragging a cow with an all-terrain vehicle, according to court records.

Lake County Sherriff’s police were dispatched on Oct. 11 to the Crown Point residence of Paul R. Marshall in reference to an “animal problem,” according to court records filed March 25.

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Lake County Detective Sgt. Michelle Dvorscak wrote that the responding officer spoke to Marshall, who said he’d gotten two new cows that “are harder than normal to train” and that he “might have went a little over the top when it came to leading the cow back to the stable but did nothing to harm the animal.”

The officer took a look at the cows, found they appeared to be healthy and cleared the scene, records said.

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Eleven days later, on Oct. 22, Dvorscak received a video a witness obtained from the Indiana Board of Animal Health showing Marshall “dragging a black cow behind an ATV down a driveway,” records said, at times getting off the vehicle "punching and kicking the cow he was dragging,” according to court records.

Each time the cow attempted to stand, Marshall would attempt to drag it and would slip and fall on the slick driveway, records said. When it fell, “Marshall got off the ATV, went up to the cow, kicked it several times in its head and torso and beat it with his fists,” according to the probable cause affidavit.

The witnesses recording the video could be heard expressing concern over Marshall dragging the cow around his entire front yard and that the cow was going to break its hip “from the abuse it was suffering,” records said.

Dvorscak wrote in the probable cause affidavit that after leaving several business cards at Marshall’s house to no avail, she received additional footage on Oct. 28 showing Marshall once again dragging a black cow that was lying on the pavement, then getting off the ATV and yelling, “Get up! Get up!” at it.

The next day, a witness contacted Dvorscak and told her they confronted Marshall, who unhooked the cow and walked it to a barn on the property, records said.

A second witness confirmed that Marshall was “trying to get the cow to walk, but (dragging it is) one of the worst ways to try and do it because cows don’t like being pulled,” records said. The witness also confirmed Marshall’s abuse went on for approximately 15 to 20 minutes, records said.

Marshall was charged with knowingly or intentionally abusing a vertebrate animal, a Class A Misdemeanor, and recklessly, knowingly or intentionally neglecting a vertebrate animal that is in a person’s custody, also a Class A misdemeanor.